Press Release – May 28, 2026
On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, Surfrider Foundation Europe is publishing its position on waste generated by the tobacco industry. The NGO is calling for a ban on cigarette filters, nicotine pouches, and disposable electronic cigarettes (so-called “puffs”) at the European level. Volunteers will amplify this advocacy throughout June through major cigarette butt collection campaigns on beaches, around lakes, and along rivers across Europe.
Cigarette filters: an enemy for the environment
Beyond the well-recognized public health concern, products from the tobacco industry have a major environmental impact throughout their entire lifecycle.
First, cigarette filters: once consumed, they become cigarette butts that absorb thousands of toxic chemical substances, including nicotine, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrosamines, and heavy metals. In total, nearly 7,000 chemical substances can be released from a single cigarette butt, including more than 40 known mutagens and carcinogens.
Cigarette butts release pollutants into soils, surface waters, and groundwater as they age and degrade, exposing wildlife to a wide range of contaminants, some of which can bioaccumulate in food chains. Research has shown that cigarette butts can affect the growth, behavior, reproduction, and even survival of various organisms.
They also represent a significant source of microplastic pollution.
In 2025, the 17,172 participants quantified 587,514 cigarette butts, once again placing them first among counted waste.
Faced with this scourge, Surfrider has been mobilizing for many years and has raised the alarm with French and European public authorities. However, it now wishes to have the harmfulness of the entire tobacco industry on the environment more widely recognized.
Banning the cigarette filter is the solution
In 2025, the NGO called for a ban on cigarette filters, notably relying on the work of the World Health Organization: “there is no evidence to suggest that filters provide proven health benefits,” the organization states. Filters primarily serve an economic and marketing interest for manufacturers because they make the taste smoother by reducing the harshness of tobacco smoke. They facilitate initiation among young people and can be used to attract new consumers. Recent studies suggest they could even aggravate risks by attenuating the taste of tobacco and encouraging deeper inhalation of smoke.
Other Tobacco Products: also to be banned
In its position paper, Surfrider Foundation does not limit itself to cigarette filters: it also calls for a ban on other products such as nicotine pouches and disposable electronic cigarettes. These items can be considered single-use plastics. They are marketed by the tobacco industry as alternatives to cigarettes or as tools to help consumers quit smoking. However, their use is increasingly rising, especially among younger people.
Nicotine pouches are single-use products that are non-recyclable and non-biodegradable, destined for landfills or incineration. When discarded in nature, they contribute to both plastic pollution and chemical pollution, just like cigarette butts. The nicotine they contain is toxic even at very low doses to aquatic organisms.
Initial data from the Danish Environmental Agency illustrate the scale of the problem: it is estimated that 5.3 million nicotine pouches are abandoned in nature each year, representing more than three tons of waste, including about half a ton of plastic-type materials.
Disposable electronic cigarettes, for their part, are often discarded after a few days of use, while combining three types of major pollution in a single product: these items are made of plastic, electronic components, and dangerous chemical compounds.
Ecotoxicological research conducted on waste from electronic cigarettes has already revealed harmful effects on a whole series of organisms, including frogs, fish, microorganisms, and sea urchins, suggesting toxicity at multiple trophic levels. These results indicate that chemical substances released by discarded disposable electronic cigarettes can disrupt aquatic ecosystems.
Building on the example of France, which has already taken the initiative to ban nicotine pouches, Surfrider is now calling for a ban on these three items at the European level.
“Behind every filter, every puff, and every nicotine pouch, there is plastic, toxic substances, and a reality of figures that continue to rise: pollution that ends up in our streets, rivers, and oceans. Continuing to market products designed to become waste after a few minutes of use no longer makes any environmental or health sense today. Faced with such avoidable pollution, the ban on these products – and its implementation by authorities – is therefore the most coherent and effective measure,” explains Lucie Padovani, Advocacy Officer for Surfrider Foundation Europe.
Surfrider against cigarette butts : a Campaign to raise awareness and act on the ground
Faced with the scale of pollution from cigarette butts, Surfrider is calling on citizens to take action. Throughout June, Surfrider will mobilize thousands of volunteers through its European campaign “Surfrider Against Cigarette Butts.” The goal: to invite everyone to participate in dedicated collection campaigns for waste from tobacco products, highlighting this pollution with disastrous consequences.
The objectives of this campaign are to:
- Raise awareness about the omnipresence of this plastic waste in our environment,
- Invite citizens across Europe to participate in participatory science operations; each collection is accompanied by a quantification session, turning each piece of waste into data that can be used to pressure decision-makers via a freely accessible European database,
- Affirm a position in favor of banning cigarette filters, nicotine pouches, and disposable electronic cigarettes.
In 2025, the “Surfrider Against Cigarette Butts” campaign mobilized 792 citizens across seven European countries (France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, and Denmark) on May 31 alone. In total, 224,241 cigarette butts were collected through 44 collection events (2024 figures: 183,353 butts for 862 volunteers).
This year, the campaign will extend throughout the entire month of June.
Link to participate or organize a cigarette butt collection : retrace.surfrider.eu
We remain at your disposal for any interview.
About Surfrider Foundation Europe
Surfrider Foundation is a collective of positive activists who act concretely on the ground every day to pass on a preserved Ocean to future generations. Our mission: To loudly and strongly voice the Ocean! Our tools? Raising awareness and mobilizing citizens, children and adults alike (notably through 48 volunteer branches across Europe), using our scientific expertise to carry out lobbying actions and transform companies. Discover the association at https://surfrider.eu/ or via this video.
CONTACTS:
Lionel Cheylus | Medias relations manager | +33 6 08 10 58 02 | lcheylus@surfrider.eu
Julie Gabriel | Media Relations Assistant | presse@surfrider.eu
The “Break the Plastic Wave” campaign by Surfrider Foundation Europe is supported by the LIFE program created by the European Commission. The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of its content, which reflects solely the authors’ views, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.